The A to Z’s of 3-Day Teambuilding

No one ever walks alone on the 3-Day. Even walkers who start off solo end up being welcomed into new groups and paired with other solo walkers, so they are supported and loved every step of their 60-mile journey. The other, larger reason for that is we have so many amazing 3-Day teams on all our walks. Big or small, teams keep each other moving and motivated all weekend long.

So, if one of your goals for the year is to grow your team, or you’re having trouble getting some long-time walkers to come join you once again, we want to help! Here are our A to Z Tips for building your team, recruiting new team members, and making sure you’re surrounded by all your favorite people on the 3-Day this year.

ASK: We are starting off with the obvious one here because it truly can be something people struggle with. You won’t know if someone is interested in joining your team unless you ask them! Don’t be afraid! The worst thing that could happen would be that they say “no.” And then you’re no worse off than when you started.
Be a teammate as well as a team leader. Every team needs a captain, but never forget that you’re part of the team too! Take time to focus on your own 3-Day journey so that you can fully enjoy this process.

Co-Captains (Lean on them!): Coach Sharyn says that as a Team Captain of her team, “A String of Pearls,” she makes a point of making sure everyone knows who their teammates are. She also introduces her co-captains and leans on them when she is most busy. When everyone knows each other, everyone always has a good source of information and a support system.
Delegate: You can’t be expected to do all the teambuilding all on your own! Work with your other teammates, or even ask your local coaches to help find people who might need a team.
Encourage bonding between your existing teammates. This will create friendships that are sure to last long past the 3-Day weekend. This will also increase the reach your teambuilding efforts have.
Family and friends: They’re the most likely to want to join you on a 60-mile walk so if you haven’t asked them yet, now is the time! Also, remember that just because you’ve asked them in the past, it doesn’t mean their answer is final. It might not have been a good year for them, or they might have been previously unavailable. 2019 could be their year!
Go slow: Don’t feel the need to recruit 10 new team members in a single week! It will only leave you frustrated. Take it slow and grow your team as you can.
Have a plan: Give yourself small deadlines and tasks that you can easily work into your existing schedule. Making a long-term plan will make it easier to hit your teambuilding deadlines.

Include Crew and 20-Mile walkers in your teambuilding efforts, too! Coach Tisho loves recruiting ALL members of the 3-Day family to her teams, so she wants to remind other teambuilders not to forget the Crew and 20-Milers.
Just keep at it! It’s all about the follow-up and the reminders. In a busy world, staying in touch with potential teammates will keep the 3-Day top of mind for them.
Know the details about the event so you can share with your potential teammates. Talk to your coaches and find out where the ceremonies and camp are as well as any details that are available. It might just spark more interest to get someone registered!
Leverage every contact that you have. You never know who might want to join the 3-Day! Your tax accountant could be a breast cancer survivor or maybe your kid’s swim team coach loves long distance walks. Everyone could benefit from a little 3-Day love in their lives ??

Make teams within a team! If your team gets larger, break your people up so they can focus on what they do best. Have the super fundraisers on call to help other teammates or tap those with big social circles to recruit new team members.
Never stop sharing your passion about the 3-Day. It might just be the inspiration someone needs to join you. Coach Gayla swears by passion and enthusiasm to help you achieve all your 3-Day goals ?
Organize happy hours and social events with friends, then talk to them about ways they can be part of the 3-Day. As a 3-Day walker, crew member, 20-mile walker, volunteer, private cheer station, or even as your walker stalker. Even if you don’t add any new team members, you’ll have a fun night out with your pals.

Personal connections are great, but you can also take recommendations from other people! Your best friend’s mom might want to walk, or your neighbor’s sister. Expand your reach!
Questions are a great way to start a teambuilding meeting! Coach Gina says that for a “welcome meeting” she asks people to give one word that describes their leadership or one word that describes what the 3-Day means to everyone at the meeting.
Rock on ? Coach Gayla recommends painting rocks with words like #Commit3Days and The3Day.org and leaving them along trails and sidewalks as you do your next training walk. Add your team name or Facebook group so other walkers can find you! People will see them as they pass by and you might get a new team member you never even knew.

Social media is a simple way to stay connected, especially if you have team members in other cities. Create a team Facebook Page (Coach Liz loves this idea) and keep in touch all year long.
Training walks are key for making lasting connections. Coach Gayla says that for every training walk you host; you should ask your teammates to bring someone who hasn’t walked the 3-Day before.
Understand that “not right now” doesn’t mean “no.” Keep people on your radar for future years or other opportunities to support the 3-Day in the future.
Vacations are fun, so make it about that! Reach out to your out-of-town friends and family and invite them to spend a long weekend with you on the 3-Day.

“Why” is important! Coach Gina encourages her team captains to find out the reasons why their team joined the 3-Day. What is your “why” for being part of the 3-Day?
X-plain your mission and the difference the event has made in your lives and the lives of others. Showing the impact that the 3-Day has not only had on your community, but your own life, will encourage people to join your mission.
Yearly Events help make a big difference in your team’s fundraising efforts and are also a rallying cry for new members to join. Coach Sharyn’s team throws a big fundraiser on the four days of the Memorial Day Weekend every year and invites her whole team (now up to 26 people!) to participate if they’re able.
Zero to 10 Questions. Coach Liz asks every knew team member to provide a question or two that they want to know about their fellow teammates. Then she starts a chain email so everyone can get to know each other and find common bonds. It’s all about making new friends and expanding your 3-Day family ?

What are the best ways you’ve found to recruit new team members? Tell us in the comments!

Fundraising Ideas You Might Never Have Thought Of

Fundraising for the 3-Day is a large commitment. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t still be fun, especially if you get creative! If you’re in a rut, we have creative ideas and approaches that you might never have thought of on your own, to help turn your fundraising into FUNdraising. Plus, for added motivation, we also have a fundraising contest going on right now. Read on for new ways to hit all your fundraising goals this year.

Rent a port-a-potty: Yes, you read that right! Those port-a-potties you “love” during the 3-Day can help you raise money too! Talk to your town and find out about the next parade or community event, then rent a port-a-potty. Decorate it (of course we’d suggest pink!) and ask people for donations in order to use it.
No one is a bad idea: And we mean everyone! Even ask people like your auto mechanic or dry cleaner for a donation. You can also ask them for coupons that you can use at a fundraising event or as a reward to teammates who hit a certain fundraising amount.
Spare change: Set up a jar next to your desk at work and ask people to empty their pockets at the end of the day and donate any spare change they have. No one likes carrying lots of change around in their pocket anyway!
Host a Mow-a-thon: Now that summer is upon us, take advantage of the warm weather! Host a weekend lawn Mow-a-thon and try to mow as many lawns as possible in one weekend. Start with your neighbors and then ask them to spread the word! Wear pink while you mow. ?
Walk where people see: Set up a treadmill outside of a store or farmer’s market and walk for donations. Set out a donation can for people to drop donations in. We guarantee people will stop and take notice!
Pet birthday party: Have a fun birthday party for your pet—or a friend’s pet! They happen more often than you think, but this time, really go all out. Serve pet-themed treats and ask everyone to wear ears! Then, ask for a suggested donation at the door.
Personal vending machine: Have you ever thought about how much money the vending machine at work likely makes in a single week? You can be your own vending machine! Purchase some of the office favorites in bulk (or have them donated if you can!) then sell them from your desk at a profit. Your desk will be the office favorite in no time!
Say in style: We love a good 3-Day wig or pink hairdo! Color your hair pink or shave your head for donations. Hype the new style up on social media and ask for donations to support your new do. Then, do a Facebook Live or other promotion of your new style to ask for more donations after you take the style plunge.
Free rent: Ask your apartment complex to donate one month’s rent to sponsor you. It’s a simple strategy, with no more investment than you usually spend.
Get creative: Ask a local artist or creative friend to donate a piece of artwork that you can raffle off to those who have donated. If you’re a creative, you can even design the art yourself!

So, let’s get fundraising! If you have any more FUNdraising ideas, add them to the comments below. Our 3-Dayers have the best fundraising knowledge. We want to hear from you!

Komen Advocacy Summit: What is your story? Will you come share it with Congress?

Guest Blog Post By Sally Dunbar, 3-Day Walker

Hands Up For Hooters, Team Captain

I am a breast cancer warrior. I am also a Political Bozo. Which makes it a bit ironic that I was invited to travel to Washington, D.C. last week to advocate to Congress for breast cancer. Truth be told, I had to look up who my house representatives are. How do you refer to them face to face? And I’m still unclear if D.C. is actually a state! Yeah… a political Bozo — first class.

I wasn’t sure what I could offer the Advocacy Summit last week, or why I got the emailed invitation, but how could I say NO? (For the record, I paid my own way — they do not waste money flying bozos around the country!) I figured I would learn something. I could see our nation’s Capitol. And hey — I could probably recruit for my team! So I went. By way of background, I am team captain of Hands Up For Hooters — a huge Komen 3-Day team that primarily walks in San Diego. This year we also have walkers in Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and Dallas/Fort Worth. In the past four years, we have raised $660,000 for Komen.

I arrived at the Hyatt on Capitol Hill in D.C. for our first day-long training session on Wednesday, May 1st. There were more than 250 men and women in attendance, including Komen staff, as well as CEO Paula Schneider, and Victoria Wolodzko, Senior Vice President of Komen’s Mission. Throughout the three days, I met many Komen Affiliates from all over the US. I met Komen Advocates Scholars, and Research Scholars. (I didn’t even know what those were before.) I met many women living with metastatic breast cancer who were very moving to hear as well as survivor advocates. I also met many African American women who were specifically invited to help give voice to the black community about breast cancer through Komen’s Speak Truth to Power conference. Oddly, I only met two or three other 3-Dayers. I hear there were 10 registered, but I didn’t meet them. Also, oddly, I met many people who did not know what the 3-Day was! How could that be? Clearly, we need a louder voice!

Thursday our group of more than 250 marched to Capitol Hill. All 13 of us from California met with Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Kamala Harris’s office. Then two of us met with my House Representative, Ami Bera, and another group member’s representative, Tom McClintock. Komen had pre-arranged meetings scheduled for us with their Health Legislative Aides for 15 minutes each.

During our meeting on the Hill, we had 4 main “Asks” to request their support of:

To increase research funding to the National Institute of Health (NIH), which includes the National Cancer Institute, from $39B, to $41.5B, despite the president’s proposed budget of a $4.6B decrease. Interestingly 80% of our voters support more money for NIH for Bio Tech research, even if it means raising taxes, because they understand the importance to all of us and our families. This “ask” struck me in that we were advocating for funding ALL health issues, not just breast cancer.
Maintain funding for Early Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection (B-CEP) at $275M. This helps low income and under- or un-insured women get early screening and diagnostics before they advance to higher stage cancers.
Co-sponsor a new Komen led bill recently introduced by Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI), called the Access to Breast Cancer Diagnosis Act, aiming to eliminate the disparity between the out-of-pocket cost of diagnostic imaging and tests. The average patient cost of a mammogram is $231. The average patient cost of an MRI used to further diagnose a suspect mammogram is more than $1,000. How many women will forego the advanced diagnosis because they can’t afford it? This bill will lessen patient out-of-pocket costs, leading to more early diagnosis and more lives saved.
Sign on to the Cancer Drug Parity Act (H.R.1730/S.741) as a co-sponsor. Think about this. You have breast cancer. You need chemo. You go to the clinic for your IV infusion with a $25 copay as this is an office visit and what your treatment will cost. But let’s say there is a newer, better drug for you that comes in pill form. Wow. Easy peasy. No driving to the infusion center. No babysitters. No doctors or technicians involved. No travel. No time off work. You just pop the pill a home. This, however, is paid for under your prescription coverage, which for most of us is a 20% co-pay. My partner on the hill has stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Her treatment caused peripheral neuropathy which numbed her hands, and ended her career as an OB-GYN. So she has no job. Her current drug co-pay is $120 per month. But when that drug quits working for her, the next step is a drug costing $13,000 a month. Her co-pay will be $3,500 each month. She has a daughter in college and she said if she has to choose between her daughter’s tuition, and one month’s co-pay — well, she is a Mom. She knows what she would choose.

We asked our representatives to support eliminating the disparity between IV and oral chemotherapy treatments, so patients like Kelly don’t have to make these types of decisions.

Honestly, I crammed my head with factoids in preparation for these meetings, yet still felt totally inadequate to speak to these issues. Then a bit of divine intervention arrived in the form of what else? My UBER DRIVER from the airport! “What are you in D.C. for?” she asked. I told her. “Really? I have spent my career conducting advocacy fly-ins for decades. I teach people how to advocate. I am currently a professor of humanities, getting my PHD in… blah blah.” Honestly, I didn’t even understand what her PHD was in. But it was a PHfrikkenD! I asked the obvious — “Whachadoin driving for UBER, Doc?” She replied, “I have to fund my research”.

She gave me two invaluable tips for advocating. “First, don’t wear metal to the Capitol — it sets off the metal detectors.” Check. “Second, forget all the factoids Komen gives you. Just tell your story. And make them cry. THAT is what they will remember.”

So that is what I did. I let my partner explain the details about our asks, as the aides dutifully wrote notes (or maybe finished their morning’s Sudoku puzzle — it was hard to tell). Then I told my story.

“I want to tell you why I paid my own way to come to D.C. from Sacramento to talk to you. 14 years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It scared the begeezus out of me. The doctor didn’t pull my treatment plan out of his hat. It was research from the gazillions of women before me that told my doctors what treatment I should have. And it worked. I am here today. But I learned there was more work to be done because too many men and women are still dying. I started walking and fundraising for Komen, because they were working to end death from breast cancer. I formed my team — Hands Up For Hooters — to walk 20 miles a day, three days in a row in the 3-Day event. To date I have had over 300 men and women join my team and we have raised $660,000 for Komen. We are the hiking boots on the ground in the war on breast cancer, so to speak. I do this so that if I get a recurrence, the research will be there to let my docs know what to do. I also walk for my little grandson. This is something I can do today — advocate for his future — so he never loses his wife, or his second grandmother — ME — to breast cancer. THAT is why I am here.”

Was I effective? Well, I didn’t get them to cry. But I did find out that on both sides of the isle there is broad support for research funding and breast cancer issues, and each of the four aides I met with had their own breast cancer story. Their Mom. Their aunt. Their partner. I feel encouraged about their votes.

After our meetings we delivered a dozen information packets to the House and Senate offices who had no constituents attend the summit. It dawned on me that we would have been so much more powerful had we had summit attendees from EVERY nook and cranny in the US — if EVERY house representative got a visit and every state senator heard our story. But some states had no one. Even my state, California, only had 13 of us from the entire state, yet we have 53 house representatives. We missed most of them!

That is where you come in, Mr. and Ms. 3-Day Walker! Consider coming next year. You are invited. Especially if you are from some podunk, off the beaten track location with a lonely representative who doesn’t get many visitors! They want to hear from you. From US. One thing I kept hearing is how much more impactful a volunteer constituent’s voice is over a paid lobbyist. They value us. They listen. Komen almost doubled the size of the Summit this year, to 250. Their goal is to double again for next year — to 500. We 3-Dayers can do it. And think about it. We have spent tons of time advocating for Komen each time we ask for a donation. We are experienced! We know how to make the ask!!!

I will be there next year. And I will come more prepared. I plan to gather stories from my team, and from my own experiences — stories that support the asks that Komen will decide upon. I hope you are there with me. You won’t regret it.